Re: A Shang-Olmec connection ?

don (dbain@UNIXG.UBC.CA)
Mon, 28 Oct 1996 19:24:30 -0800

For those who have access to the WWW the address of this article is

http://www.usnews.com/usnews/ISSUE/4OLMEC.HTM

and for those that do not, you can drop me a message and I'll send you a
copy.

As for the content of the article, the idea of Asian immigrants has been
discussed here at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver. The
Pacific current has been used to explain the presence of metal prior to
contact here in B.C. The reasoning behind this is that the current may
have brought over debris containing metal which was eventually found on
the coast. I do recall a Haida (of Haida Gwaii which is commonly known
as the Queen Charlotte Islands) story about a group of people landing on
the shores and who were eventually assimilated into the general
population. What makes this story intriguing is that they apparently
built what can be described as a shrine which coincidentally has never
been documented.

Apparently the Ainu of Japan have much in common with the Tsimshian here
in B.C. as the Ainu carve poles and there are some cultural
similarities.

As well, there is _always_ the Bering Land-Bridge Theory...

hope this helps...

db

dbain@unixg.ubc.ca